Hillary Clinton edges Republicans in trial heats, has big lead among Hispanics

Ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton enjoys leads in the comfortable-to-precarious range over the 2016 Republican field, with a new poll underlining importance of the nation’s growing Hispanic vote.

Clinton has a 52-41 percent lead over Republican front runner Donald Trump, according to the MSNBC/Telemundo/Marist poll. She leads Trump 69-27 percent among Hispanics, not surprising in that Trump has proposed a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and has suggested that emigres from south of the border are criminals and rapists.

Ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: She leads all GOP candidates, thanks to big margins among Hispanic voters.

Clinton is ahead of another immigration hard liner, ultraconservative Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, by a 51-44 margin, and enjoys a 61-34 percent lead among Hispanic voters.

The Republican Party courted the nation’s fast-growing Hispanic vote in the last decade. President George W. Bush took just over 40 percent of that vote in 2004. In 2008, however, Barack Obama captured 67 percent and increased that in 2012, winning over Mitt Romney by a 71-27 percent margin among Hispanics The Hispanic vote was key not only to winning such states as Nevada and Colorado, but was also instrumental in the president’s 2008 and 2012 victories in Virginia.

Clinton beats Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, by a 48-45 percent margin. Although Rubio is of Cuban ancestry, Clinton beats him among Hispanics by a 57-38 percent margin. She leads ex-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush by 49-45 percent, with a 61-35 percent margin among Hispanics. Bush is bilingual, and his wife comes from Mexico.

The candidate who runs best against Clinton is fading in the Republican race. She holds a wafer thin 48-47 percent lead over Ben Carson, but enjoys a much wider 61-35 percent lead among Hispanic voters.

The survey of 2,360 voters was taken between Nov. 15 and Dec. 2. It has a margin of error of plus/minus 2 percent: The survey involved 264 Hispanic voters, with a higher error margin.

Strategists for the Republican Party, in a post-2012 analysis by the Republican National Committee, warned that the party was becoming a vehicle for older white voters. It warned that the GOP must draw Hispanics or go on losing presidential elections. The hard-line candidacies of Trump and Cruz are a threat to that objective.